Table Of ContentRODIN'S ART
Rodin's Art
The Rodin Collection
of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center
for Visual Arts at Stanford University
A L B E RT E. E L S EN
with ROSALYN FRANKEL JAMISON
EDITED BY BERNARD BARRYTE
WITH PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANK WING
THE IRIS & B. GERALD CANTOR CENTER FOR VISUAL ARTS AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY
IN ASSOCIATION WITH OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2OO3
OXPORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Copyright © 2003 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
and the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University and the Estate of Albert Elsen
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Elsen, Albert Edward, 1927-
Rodin's art : the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Collection at Stanford University / by Albert E.
Elsen with Rosalyn Frankel Jamison; edited by Bernard Barryte; photography by Frank Wing.
p. cm.
"The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University in
association with Oxford University Press."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-513380-3 (cloth); ISBN 0-19-513381-1 (paper)
1. Rodin, Auguste, 1840-1917—Catalogs. 2. Sculpture—California—Palo
Alto—Catalogs. 3. Sculpture—Private Collections—California—Palo Alto—Catalogs. 4.
Cantor, B. Gerald, 1916—Art collections—Catalogs. 5 Cantor, Iris—Art
Collections—Catalogs. 6 Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford
University—Catalogs. I. Rodin, Auguste, 1840-1917. II. Jamison, Rosalyn Frankel. III.
Barryte, Bernard. IV. Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford
University. V. Title.
NB553.R7 A4 2002
730'.92—dc21 2001036139
Publication of this volume is made possible by a generous grant from The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Printed in Hong Kong on acid-free paper
The way in which the artist arrives at his goal
is the secret of his own existence.
It is the measure of his own vision.
Auguste Rodin
The art of the sculptor is made of strength,
exactitude, and will. In order to express life,
to render nature, one must will and will with
all the strength of the heart and brain.
Auguste Rodin
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CONTENTS
Foundation Foreword ix
Director's Foreword xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Two Genuine Articles 3
B. Gerald Cantor and the Stanford Rodin Collection 5
Introduction 13
The Many Lives of a Rodin Sculpture 21
Casting a Rodin Sculpture 30
CATALOGUE 35
The Patriotic Themes 36
The Burghers of Calais 65
Monuments to and Portraits of Artists 154
Other Portraits and Symbolic Heads 432
Small Sculptures 492
Partial Figures and the Hands 540
Ceramics 600
Drawings 608
Appendix 623
Selected Bibliography 649
Index 655
Photo Credits 662
PATRIOTIC THEMES / VII
Fig. 1. B. Gerald
Cantor, art
collector, with his
cast of The Kiss,
New York, 1981.
F O U N D A T I ON F O R E W O RD
Without question, Stanford University is the home of the The majority of the art was given in 1974, when Mr.
greatest concentration of Auguste Rodin's work outside Cantor had been collecting for almost thirty years. At the
his estate in Paris. The product of an ardent friendship time the gift was hailed as one of the largest donations of
between the munificent patron B. Gerald Cantor sculpture ever received by a museum from a private col-
(1916-1996; fig. 1) and Stanford professor Albert Elsen lector. It prompted donations to Stanford from other col-
(1927-1995), this unparalleled Rodin study center ben- lectors, and Mr. Cantor also made additional gifts in suc-
efits Stanford's students, the San Francisco Bay Area ceeding years. In 1977 he was joined in his philanthropic
community, and the world at large in a distinctly educa- pursuits by his wife, Iris, who now serves as Chairman
tional way. Mr. Cantor and Professor Elsen worked for and President of the board of Directors of the Iris and B.
years to tailor the content of the collection so that it Gerald Cantor Foundation (fig. 2). The couple shared a
spanned all periods of Rodin's approximately fifty years strong belief that the greatest pleasure to be derived
of creative production and so that comparisons could be from art comes in making it possible for others to learn
made between the same works figures executed in both from it. B. Gerald Cantor's comments of record on phi-
plaster and bronze, between reductions and enlarge- lanthropy were most often simply put: "Why not give it
ments, and between the work of different foundries. This while you're alive and can see people enjoy it?"
catalogue records the totality of Cantor's gifts of sculp- Placing Rodin sculpture in public spaces has been a
ture, drawings, prints, photographs, and documents asso- persistent undertaking of the Cantors as evidenced by
ciated with Rodin, which was accompanied by the the numerous sculpture gardens and galleries that bear
donor's personal Rodin reference library (now in the Art their name around the country. Twenty monumental
and Architecture Library, Stanford University). bronzes were chosen specifically for the one-acre B. Ger-
A zealous collector, Mr. Cantor eagerly shared his ald Cantor Rodin Sculpture Garden at Stanford, which
Rodins with the public. He also sought to clarify com- was conceived in the 1970s and opened officially in May
mon misconceptions about what qualifies as an original 1985. Many of Rodin's best-loved sculptures are
in bronze editions and to instill an appreciation of the included, notably The Gates of Hell, Adam, Eve, The Three
value of the posthumous cast. Mr. Cantor chose Stanford Shades, monumental heads of two of the Burghers of
as the recipient of his gifts because the university setting Calais, and The Walking Man. The Garden's design was
allowed Rodin's work to be exhibited in terms of con- inspired by the Bagatelle Gardens in the Bois de
noisseurship. He was confident the university would use Boulogne in Paris as well as by that city's Sculpture Salon
the collection in the teaching of art history and that its of 1898 in the now-destroyed Galerie des Machines, with
presence would be an intellectual inspiration. In 1969 its freestanding colonnade, cypress trees, grass, and
he set his plan in motion by creating a research fund to gravel walks. Stanford's Garden is unique in that it has no
support academic study of Rodin under Professor Elsen, fences or walls, and Professor Elsen once noted that its
an endeavor that not only produced numerous impor- beauty is its sole protection, for it is open to the world 24
tant Rodin exhibitions and publications but also many hours a day throughout the year. Since its inception it
scholars who hold positions in museums today. has been host to numerous public and private events; Al
< IX >
Description:The late Albert Elsen was the first American scholar to study seriously the work of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, and the person most responsible for a revival of interest in the artist as a modern innovator--after years during which the sculpture had been dismissed as so much Victorian bathos.
